RESOURCES
The Tenancy
Charter.
A voluntary commitment by property managers to conduct tenancies with more respect than the law requires. Every thesedigs brief reports whether the managing agency is enrolled — because how a home is managed is part of whether it's adequate.
Considerate prior notice
Where tenants have communicated a preference for entry times or dates for inspections or repairs, these are accommodated where reasonably possible.
Treating entry as something to be scheduled with an occupant, rather than served on them, is a clear signal of how a tenancy will be conducted. Showing respect for tenants means recognising that work or other personal commitments may mean that short notice, inconvenient entry imposes hostility.
Photography by consent
No interior photography that captures an occupant's personal effects is taken or published without express written consent, given per campaign (not buried in the lease fineprint).
Listing photos of an occupied home are photos of someone's life. Consent given once, years earlier, under signing pressure, is not consent to today's marketing campaign.
Image lifecycle
Inspection and marketing images are used only for their stated purpose and deleted when that purpose ends, with deletion confirmed on request.
Images of a home's interior, layout, locks, and contents are a security document. Photography for condition reports, insurance or maintenance shows structural elements and blurs personal background effects before it is shared with owners, insurers or tradespeople.Indefinite retention creates risk the occupant never agreed to carry.
Data minimisation
Only the personal information needed for the tenancy is collected, its purpose is stated at collection, and it is not shared beyond that purpose.
Application processes routinely gather more than a tenancy decision needs. Charter signatories collect less, say why, and don't let application data become a marketing list. Once a tenancy ends, the data is deleted or anonymised, and the occupant is promptly informed of any disclosure that is reasonably necessary. No sale or data partnerships that make use of personal information are permitted without prior written consent of the tenant.
Respectful entry
During any entry, an occupied home is treated as a home first and an asset second: shoes, photographs, cupboards, and possessions are approached accordingly.
The legal right to enter is not a licence to inspect a life. Conduct inside the home during routine inspections is where trust is built or permanently lost.
Service standards
Strata managers are required to check smoke alarms periodically. Reports are shared with owners.
The owner should be offered the choice of relying on the strata inspection as an alternative to using an independent service to monitor the same attribute.
Catalogue of inventory
By maintaining a catalogue of inventory (such as the dishwasher), the tenant can project the cost of utilities.
The cost of living in a home will be more predictable with a comprehensive inventory. If one has been made for the purposes of a depreciation schedule, offering it to the tenant for personal budgeting purposes is a courtesy that shows you care.
Respectful communication
Establish respectful methods of communication.
One-way notice portals are hostile: the manager sends a text from a service that does not permit responses. Symmetric channels are a fairness mechanism, not a convenience.
Responsive repairs
Urgent repairs are acknowledged and acted on immediately, with transparent, and justifiable methods for determining allocation of responsibility; routine repairs are acknowledged promptly with a stated timeline.
Repair responsiveness is the lived experience of habitability. An acknowledgment with a timeline costs minutes and transforms the occupant's ability to plan their life.
Honest condition reporting
Condition reports record defects plainly, include photographs, and occupants are given genuine opportunity to annotate and retain their copy.
The condition report is the tenancy's founding document and the bond's deciding evidence. Its honesty at the start determines its fairness at the end.
Public accountability
Enrolment in the charter is public, complaints follow a stated process with stated timeframes, and breaches are remediated on the record.
A commitment without visibility is a slogan. Public engagements lets any prospective owner or occupant check a manager's standing before engaging with the property, which is exactly how thesedigs uses it.
IN EVERY BRIEF
Enrolment is a finding, not a footnote.
Every assessed property reports the managing agency's Tenancy Charter status under Security of Tenure and Privacy. Where an agency is not enrolled, the brief says exactly what protections are missing.